Cost is an ever-present factor in the consumer healthcare experience. About half of consumers had out-of-pocket healthcare expenses in the last year, with a significant portion of those balances being large. Rising consumer payment responsibility for healthcare can be a significant contributor to financial stress: Current data shows that 75% of health-insured consumers are concerned about financial hardship due to medical bills and nearly 1/3 of Americans did not seek care due to cost in 2021.
Additionally, since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, social determinants of health (SDOH) are increasingly part of the broader conversation in healthcare. Subsequently, the concern around healthcare inequity continues to grow. While SDOH include all factors related to consumer demographics, the differences in healthcare equity can be seen most clearly among races.
Read our white paper to learn about the latest trends in consumer healthcare costs and inequity, including:
- The general state of consumer financial health
- Drivers of consumer stress related to healthcare finances
- Which social determinants affect consumer healthcare payment experiences
- The impacts of racial disparity in healthcare payments